An Overdue Reunion
by CombineGLaDOS
Summary: The war is over, and Shepard finally allows nature to take its course, but she gets a surprise she never anticipated. Spoilers for ME3. Reviews appreciated.


**A/N: So this is right up there on corniest things I have ever written, but this is inspired by a certain segment in a certain popular book series that I shall not name but if you've read it or seen the movie, you'll know what I'm on about.**

The explosion was deafening, even with the implants that Shepard had been given to protect her ears from noises that would normally be loud enough to perforate her eardrums. The flames that surrounded her body caused her to experience a pain unlike anything she had ever felt in her life before, the searing, white heat blasting across her already burned and bloodied flesh.And then it was over.

The agony was gone as Shepard's body finally gave out after all the torment it had been put through over the past 32 years, much of which had happened in the last 15 minutes. She was certain that this was it; she was dead and would never be coming back, especially since no one had any reason to bring her back now that the reapers were destroyed.

Shepard was allowing her thoughts to grow silent, although she kept returning to Liara. _She'll be so annoyed that I died after I promised to stay around. In a few hundred years she'll probably kick my ass out of this afterlife and into the next one,_ she would have smiled at that thought if she had the strength to do so, but she didn't.

"Hayley." The female voice interrupted Shepard's dying thoughts, and the commander couldn't resist the urge to grumble and tell the owner to go away. If she couldn't live, Shepard wanted to peacefully pass on, she was owed that much, and she resented anyone who would deny her that privilege.

"Now, is that anyway to speak to your mother?" This time it was a male voice, and judging by how close his voice sounded, her was likely with the woman who had previously spoke.

"My mom died 29 years ago, stop lying."

"I know I did, sweetheart, and I'm sorry I broke my promise about coming home and taking you to get ice cream." That statement did it. Shepard remembered the promise her mother had made before she went to fight in the First Contact War, and how they were the only two people who knew about that promise.

She opened her eyes, only now recognising the fact that she spoke a second ago, when minutes earlier she did not even have the ability to smile. It took a second for her to realise where she was; a park that she had frequently visited when she was a child, although the fence that surrounded it was gone and the grass and trees spread as far as the eye could see. Ahead of her was a woman with long, red hair that was tied into a neat ponytail. She wore an old alliance issue uniform that far predated Hayley signing up.

Next to her was a man with deep brown eyes, wearing standard civilian clothes, the grey stubble over his chin and frown lines on his face countered his otherwise youthful appearance, suggesting her had aged far before his time.

"Mom? Dad?" Shepard began to walk towards them, reaching out to hug the parents who she had lost at such a young age. She briefly noted the lack of burns and lacerations on her arms, although her wrecked armour was still present. When she reached them, the couple eagerly returned the family hug that they had not shared for almost 30 years.

 _So this is the afterlife…_

"I'm disappointed in you, young lady," Hayley's father said, "joining the alliance. I should ground you on the spot!"

"Terry!"

"I was just kidding, Hannah," He smiled at his wife, still embracing the two women who he loved so much, "Hayley, I have never been more proud in my life….or death, rather."

"Thanks, Dad." Hayley's voice broke as her eyes began to water. She had been so sure that he would have hated her for joining the Alliance, given what had happened to her mother and the way he spoke about them thereafter, but clearly, his resentment had faded since his death.

Hannah was the one who broke the hug, gripping her daughter by her shoulders. She told her how they knew everything that she had been through and the things that she had accomplished. To them, a daughter who achieved little would still be a daughter they would be proud of, but they had never expected that their child would become the first human spectre and go on to save the galaxy from the biggest threat that had ever faced it.

Amongst all the words of praise and pride, they did display their anger at the fact she slipped into a life of gangs and drugs when she was barely out of puberty. "Regardless of your situation, those are never a solution," were her father's words on the matter.

"I'm impressed by how much you've grown, Hayley," Hannah said after the reprimanding, "I have never approved of hating people for ridiculous reasons, such as their species; when your father arrived, he was more than aware of my disapproval, but you…you went from prejudiced hate to considering people from many species a friend, especially that asari…what it her name again?"

"Liara. Liara is my- _was_ my bondmate," Sorrow stabbed Shepard as she realised that, while Liara was injured last time she saw her, the reality was she was still alive while the human herself wasn't, "she's going to be pissed- I mean annoyed, when she finds out I died and left her."

Suddenly, a knowing grin appeared on the faces of her parents, "what?"

Hannah gave Terry a look that could only be read as 'you-tell-her', and he happily obliged, "What makes you think you're staying here?"

At first, Hayley could not understand what her father had meant. She was dead, and there would be no bringing her back, not this time. She was lucky to get a second chance, there was no way she was getting a third, but then she remembered the cybernetics. If they could keep her body preserved well enough…

"Liara loves you, as does your crew albeit not in the same way," Hannah slowly reached out to touch Shepard's arm and gave her a look that only a mother could give her daughter, "you honestly didn't expect them to give up on you so easily, did you?"

"I…No, I don't know why I thought they would…" Hayley couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself. Of course they would try to save her, especially Liara, given that went all the way to Omega and later destroyed a Shadow Broker base so that she could get the box that her body was in. There was Miranda too. The Australian would not be best pleased if someone let her handiwork go to waste. In fact, she was probably already planning out the scolding she would give Shepard when she eventually woke up, vague memories of the time Miranda had barged into the med-bay the first time Hayley had been shot following her first resurrection beginning to surface.

"You have to go now. We are sorry we left you so soon, but remember, we always love you and cannot overstate how proud we are of what you have become," again, the Shepard family hugged, tears flowing down all of their faces.

"I've missed you so much…I-I love you too," Hayley said as she let go of her parents.

"Before you go, I just want to say that I don't want to see you here again for another 120 years at least. No ifs, no buts." Terry chuckled, although his amusement was cut short when Hannah elbowed him in the side before wishing her daughter a final farewell.

Hayley closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was in a room that was illuminated by the sunrise. The old, peaceful silence of where she was before was replaced by the various beep and buzzing of a range of medical equipment.

She attempted to speak, but could not do so as she had before, only managing to croak out a failed attempt at her asari lovers name.

"Shepard!" She heard the woman she was calling to shriek with joy, and when blue arms wrapped around her form, all that Shepard could think was that she was happy she was alive.


End file.
